The utilization of seat and shoulder belts when riding in a motor vehicle has become mandatory or highly recommended in most geographical areas throughout the United States. Safety studies have established that in most types of accidents involving motor vehicles the occupants utilizing seat and shoulder belts at the time avoided serious injuries to a much greater extent than those not utilizing such belts. Where, however, the occupant of the vehicle is a pregnant woman, the utilization of the conventional seat and shoulder belts provided in the vehicle can cause serious trauma to the pregnant (gravid) uterus in the event the vehicle is involved in an accident or a sudden stop. Such trauma is due to the arrangement, location and/or interconnection of such belts whereby they dangerously impinge upon the vulnerable gravid uterus and frequently cause injury to the fetus and placenta located in such region.
In an attempt to rectify this situation a protective shield such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,610,463 has been proposed. Such a device, however, enhances rather than diminishes the dangerous impingement of the gravid uterus because the force is concentrated by the shield at such body region. Furthermore, such a shield is uncomfortable to the occupant because of size and texture and may interfere with manual maneuvers required for safe operation of the vehicle where the user is the driver.
Various vehicle safety restraints are presently available for infants. However, while such restraints are generally suitable for infants up to the age of about four years they are not, however, suitable for children from ages about four to ten years because such a child could not fit into and be safely accommodated in the bucket type seat which normally comprises a major component of such a restraint. The shoulder and lap (seat) belts standard in most current model vehicles are sized and shaped to accommodate adults of normal physical dimensions and are not suitable for children of the age of about four to ten. As a result, children in this age bracket are prone in many instances not to use the restraints at all or use only the lap belt with the shoulder belt being tucked between the back of the child and the vehicle seat back. Using only the lap belt for the child has been found in many instances to be a dangerous practice because of the location of such lap belt with respect to the pelvis region of the child. Upon a sudden stop of the vehicle severe impinging force may be exerted by the lap belt on the pelvis and lower abdominal regions of the child causing serious and sometimes fatal internal injuries to occur.